Reference Data

Microtubules are essential parts in eukaryotic cell structures, transportation, and mitosis. It consists mainly of 2 soluble protein subunits, alpha and beta tubulin. Beta tubulin binds to alpha tubulin to form tubulin heterodimer which is post-translationally modified (1). The tubulin dimer complex binds to GTP and assembles onto the positive ends of microtubules. After incorporation into the microtubules, bound GTP is hydrolyzed by beta tubulin. The stability of the dimer in the microtubules is depended on presence of beta tubulin, where dimer with GTP bound beta-tubulin is stable to microtubule incorporation (2). For both type of tubulin, the carboxy-terminal tail is pos-translationally modified to regulate associated protein binding at microtubule surface (3). A mutation on alpha tubulin has been linked to abnormal neuronal migration and neurodevelopmental disorders in human (4).